Singapore's industrial production unexpectedly grew in April, helped by higher pharmaceutical manufacturing, data showed on Friday.
Manufacturing output in April rose 0.1% from a year earlier, data from the Singapore Economic Development Board showed, recovering from the revised 4.3% decline in March. The median forecast in a Reuters survey predicted a 3.5% contraction.
On a month-on-month and seasonally adjusted basis, industrial production also beat expectations with a 2.4% rise in April, after declining a revised 2.5% in March. The median forecast was for a fall of 1.3% for April.
The surprise was helped by growth of pharmaceutical output, which grew 10.9% in April from a year earlier after growing 15.8% the month before.
Electronics output in April, however, continued to decline, falling at 0.6% from a year ago after declining 15.1% in March.
